Evangelical churches need to confront sexual abuse and coverup within their own ranks, according to a statement signed by more than 1,500 people worldwide and promoted by a former sex-crimes prosecutor.

The “Public Statement Concerning Sexual Abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ” was prompted in part by a Maryland lawsuit filed by 11 people against Sovereign Grace Ministries, a denomination now based in Louisville, alleging cover-up of abuse within its churches. Read more

Abuse means, to me, using a person for whatever I want from her [or] him without asking for their agreement, without respecting their will and their interests. With children, it is very easy to do so, because they are loving. They trust their parents and most adults, and they don’t realize that they were abused, that their love had been exploited. Especially if they were forced to ignore their emotions from the beginning, they might have lost their sensibility for the warning signals.

—Alice Miller

Religious community leaders should support the elimination of harmful practices inflicted on children, including by publicly challenging problematic religious justifications for such practices whenever they occur. . . . While in many situations of violations the rights of the child and the rights of his or her parents may be affected in conjunction, it is not always the case. . . . The interests of parents and children are not necessarily identical, including in the area of freedom of religion or belief.

—Heiner Bielefeldt, Special Rapporteur, Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, United Nations

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

—Kahlil Gibran

Child abuse and neglect is still child abuse and neglect regardless of whether it's performed in a place of worship or condoned by religious leaders. Our laws should not restrict protections to certain children just because they happen to be raised by extremely devout adults. The health, safety, and lives of those children are just as important as the health, safety, and lives of all other children.

—Janet Heimlich

This is not a pleasant subject, especially for those of us who have deep, personal attachments to the Christian faith. But we dare not avoid the subject, for the abuse of children in the name of religion may well be the most significant reason for why they leave the faith when they are old enough to do so. We must ask ourselves: Who can blame them? Why should they not abandon the scene of their silent torment?